• Study from the University of Muenster and Roland Berger: 37% of communication proceeds through digital channels
• 41% of all information that is relevant for purchase decisions comes from digital sources
• Online retailers improve the quality of advice, which constitutes a major threat to stationary retailers; multi-channel concepts are required
• Travel is most frequently booked online (80%); food and drugstore items are still under 10%
• Fewer people tend to use social media channels today. Since 2012, over two million users have withdrawn from social media

Muenster/Munich, July 2014: Within the last few years, the digitalization has progressed more substantially than is generally realized. Already, 37% of all daily communication in Germany happens via digital media. This finding is presented in the new “German Digitalization Consumer Report 2014″, a joint study from the University of Muenster and Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. In this context, the research team of marketing professor Thorsten Hennig-Thurau questioned over 2,500 consumers, in order to determine the information and consumption habits of Germans.

“We were ourselves surprised by the extent of digitalization, irrespective of whether we are looking at the private or business environments”, explains Jonas vor dem Esche, who headed the study. “More than one third of our daily communication no longer takes place face to face, but by telephone, the Internet or other digital devices”. Smartphones are particularly important in this regard. In just one and a half years, Internet usage per consumer has risen by one hour per day. Surfing with mobile devices has grown 27%. More than 25% of total Internet usage is now mobile.

Digital Information Channels Influence Purchase Behavior
The ever-increasing digitalization also has an impact on the purchasing behavior of Germans. Accordingly, for the representative study, 3,800 actual purchases in 19 different industry sectors were analyzed. From an inter-sector perspective, 41% of all information that is relevant to purchasing decisions now comes from digital media.

Nonetheless, if one considers the individual industry sectors, one finds substantial differences. For travel, entertainment electronics and utilities like electricity, water or gas, over 60% of all purchase-related information is derived from digital sources. “Of all the digital information sources, the Internet still plays the most important role when it comes to purchasing decisions” states Egbert Wege, retailing and marketing expert at Roland Berger. “Consumers gather a quarter of all purchase-relevant information in the Internet or through social media”.

E-Commerce Raises the Quality of Advice
The strong trend towards online retailing has created a major challenge for stationary German retailers. Up to now, conventional retailing could differentiate itself from eCommerce through high quality advice. However, the current study reveals that the Internet often delivers better recommendations than the (up to now!) trusted dealer around the corner. Therefore, successful retailers use the online channel to transfer their good quality advice to the Internet as well.

It should be noted that the Internet not only plays an important role in acquiring product information. “We see the same development in actual purchases as well. A total of 41% of all non-routine purchases now take place digitally”, says Wege. In this respect as well, Germans display considerable differences from industry to industry. Although Germans only buy 7% of their food or drugstore items online, for travel services, it is already 80 percent.

Nonetheless, not all Germans use digital purchasing channels to the same extent or with equal enthusiasm. “The digital revolution is providing a lot of potential for conflict and distrust in our society”, points out Prof. Thorsten Hennig-Thurau. “Many Germans are becoming increasingly skeptical of the digital world“. Since 2012, two million Germans have decided to withdraw from all social networks. A total of more than 11% of German consumers with Internet access now have no social media account. This is 4% more than one and a half years ago.

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MARKETING IN THE DIGITAL WORLD

German Digitalization Consumer Report 2014

Our Special Issue on Social Media 2013

German Social Media Consumer Report 2012/2013

About us

The Digitalization Think:Lab is a group of passionate social media and digitalization researchers and practitioners coming from the University of Münster’s Marketing Center as well as Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. With this blog, we want to provide a platform that collects the latest research results from top scientists and leading social media experts.

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